Protein kinases represent a large family of enzymes, which catalyze the phosphorylation of target protein substrates. The phosphorylation is usually a transfer reaction of a phosphate group from ATP to the protein substrate. Common points of attachment for the phosphate group to the protein substrate include, for example, a tyrosine, serine or threonine residue. For example, protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) are enzymes, which catalyze the phosphorylation of specific tyrosine residues in cellular proteins. Examples of kinases in the protein kinase family include, without limitation, ab1, Akt, Aurora-A, Aurora-B, bcr-ab1, Blk, Brk, Btk, c-kit, c-Met, c-src, c-fms, CDK1, CDK2, CDK3, CDK4, CDK5, CDK6, CDK7, CDK8, CDK9, CDK10, cRaf1, CSF1R, CSK, EGFR, ErbB2, ErbB3, ErbB4, Erk, Fak, fes, FGFR1, FGFR2, FGFR3, FGFR4, FGFR5, Fgr, flt-1, Fps, Frk, Fyn, Hck, IGF-1R, INS-R, Jak, KDR, Lck, Lyn, MEK, p38, PDGFR, PIK, PKC, PYK2, ros, tie, tie2, TRK, Yes, and Zap70. Due to their activity in numerous cellular processes, protein kinases have emerged as important therapeutic targets.
Protein kinases play a central role in the regulation and maintenance of a wide variety of cellular processes and cellular function. For example, kinase activity acts as molecular switches regulating cell proliferation, activation, and/or differentiation. Uncontrolled or excessive kinase activity has been observed in many disease states including benign and malignant proliferation disorders as well as diseases resulting from inappropriate activation of the immune system (autoimmune disorders), allograff rejection, and graft vs host disease. In addition, endothelial cell specific receptor PTKs, such as VEGF-2, Tie-2 and Lck mediate the angiogenic process and are, therefore, involved in supporting the progression of cancers and other diseases involving uncontrolled vascularization.
Angiogenesis is the process of developing new blood vessels, particularly capillaries, from pre-existing vasculature and is an essential component of embryogenesis, normal physiological growth, repair, and tumor expansion. Angiogenesis remodels small vessels into larger conduit vessels, a physiologically important aspect of vascular growth in adult tissues. Vascular growth is required for beneficial processes such as tissue repair, wound healing, recovery from tissue ischemia and menstrual cycling.
Certain diseases and/or pathological conditions develop as a result of, or are known to be associated with, the regulation and/or deregulation of angiogenesis. For example, ocular neovascularisation such as retinopathies (including diabetic retinopathy), age-related macular degeneration, psoriasis, hemangioblastoma, hemangioma, and arteriosclerosis have been found to be caused, in part, due the loss of regulation and/or maintenance of vascular growth. Inflammatory diseases such as a rheumatoid or rheumatic inflammatory disease, and especially arthritis (including rheumatoid arthritis) where new capillary blood vessels invade the joint and destroy cartilage, have been associated with angiogenesis. In addition, chronic inflammatory disorders such as chronic asthma, arterial or post-transplantational atherosclerosis, endometriosis, and neoplastic diseases including so-called solid tumors and liquid tumors (for example, leukemias), have been found to be linked to the regulation and control of angiogenesis.
The involvement of angiogenesis in major diseases has lead to the identification and development of various targets for inhibiting angiogenesis. These targets relate to various receptors, enzymes, and other proteins in the angiogenic process or cascade of events leading to angiogenesis, such as, for example, activation of endothelial cells by an angiogenic signal, synthesis and release of degradative enzymes, endothelial cell migration, proliferation of endothelial cells, and formation of capillary tubules.
One target identified in the cascade of events leading to angiogenesis is the Tie receptor family. The Tie-1 and Tie-2 receptors are single-transmembrane, tyrosine kinase receptors (Tie stands for tyrosine kinase receptors with immunoglobulin and EGF homology domains). Tie-2 is an endothelial cell specific receptor tyrosine kinase, which is involved in angiogenic processes, such as vessel branching, sprouting, remodeling, maturation and stability. Tie-2 is the first mammalian receptor for which both agonist ligand(s) (for example, Angiopoietin-1 (“Ang1”) which binds to and stimulates phosphorylation and signal transduction of Tie-2), and context dependent agonist/antagonist ligand(s) (for example, Angiopoietin-2 (“Ang2”)) have been identified. Knock out and transgenic manipulation of the expression of Tie-2 and its ligands indicates that tight spacial and temporal control of Tie-2 signaling is important for the proper development of new vascularization.
Biological models suggest that the stimulation of Tie-2 by the Ang1 ligand is directly involved in the branching, sprouting and outgrowth of new vessels, and recruitment and interaction of periendothelial support cells important in maintaining vessel integrity and inducing quiescence. The absence of Ang1 stimulation of Tie-2 or the inhibition of Tie-2 autophosphorylation by Ang2, which is produced at high levels at sites of vascular regression, may cause a loss in vascular structure and matrix contacts resulting in endothelial death, especially in the absence of growth/survival stimuli.
Recently, upregulation of Tie-2 expression has been found in the vascular synovial pannus of arthritic joints of humans, consistent with the role in inappropriate neovascularization. This finding suggests that Tie-2 plays a role in the progression of rheumatoid arthritis. Point mutations producing constitutively activated forms of Tie-2 have been identified in association with human venous malformation disorders. Tie-2 inhibitors would, therefore, be useful in treating such disorders, as well as in other instances of improper neovascularization. However, with the recent recognition of Ang3 and Ang4 as additional Tie-2 binding ligands, targeting a Tie-2 ligand-receptor interaction as an anti-angiogenic therapeutic approach is less favorable. Accordingly, a Tie-2 receptor kinase inhibition approach has become a strategy of choice.
Another angiogenic factor responsible for regulating the growth and differentiation of the vascular system and its components, both during embryonic development and normal growth, as well as in a wide number of pathological anomalies and diseases, is Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (“VEGF”; originally termed “Vascular Permeability Factor”, VPF), along with its cellular receptors (see G. Breier et al., Trends in Cell Biology, 6:454-456 (1996)).
VEGF is a dimeric, disulfide-linked 46-kDa glycoprotein related to “Platelet-Derived Growth Factor” (PDGF). It is produced by normal cell lines and tumor cell lines; is an endothelial cell-specific mitogen; shows angiogenic activity in in vivo test systems (e.g. rabbit cornea); is chemotactic for endothelial cells and monocytes; and induces plasminogen activators in endothelial cells, which are involved in the proteolytic degradation of extracellular matrix during the formation of capillaries. A number of isoforms of VEGF are known, which show comparable biological activity, but differ in the type of cells that secrete them and in their heparin-binding capacity. In addition, there are other members of the VEGF family, such as “Placenta Growth Factor” (PlGF) and VEGF-C.
VEGF receptors (VEGFR) are also transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinases. They are characterized by an extracellular domain with seven immunoglobulin-like domains and an intracellular tyrosine kinase domain. Various types of VEGF receptor are known, e.g. VEGFR-1 (also known as flt-1), VEGFR-2 (also known as KDR), and VEGFR-3.
A large number of human tumors, especially gliomas and carcinomas, express high levels of VEGF and its receptors. This has led to the belief that the VEGF released by tumor cells stimulates the growth of blood capillaries and the proliferation of tumor endothelium in a paracrine manner, and through the improved blood supply, accelerate tumor growth. Increased VEGF expression could explain the occurrence of cerebral edema in patients with glioma. Direct evidence of the role of VEGF as a tumor angiogenesis factor in vivo has been shown in studies in which VEGF expression or VEGF activity was inhibited. This was achieved with anti-VEGF antibodies, with dominant-negative VEGFR-2 mutants, which inhibited signal transduction, and with antisense-VEGF RNA techniques. All approaches led to a reduction in the growth of glioma cell lines or other tumor cell lines in vivo as a result of inhibited tumor angiogenesis.
VEGF's are unique in that they are the primary angiogenic growth factors known to contribute to vascular hyperpermeability and the formation of edema. Indeed, vascular hyperpermeability and edema that is associated with the expression or administration of many other growth factors appears to be mediated via VEGF production.
Inflammatory cytokines stimulate VEGF production. Hypoxia results in a marked upregulation of VEGF in numerous tissues, hence situations involving infarct, occlusion, ischemia, anemia, or circulatory impairment typically invoke VEGF/VPF-mediated responses. Vascular hyperpermeability, associated edema, altered transendothelial exchange and macromolecular extravasation, which is often accompanied by diapedesis, can result in excessive matrix deposition, aberrant stromal proliferation, fibrosis, etc. Hence, VEGF-mediated hyperpermeability can significantly contribute to disorders with these etiologic features. As such, the regulation of angiogenesis via the VEGF receptor activity has become an important therapeutic target.
Angiogenesis is regarded as an absolute prerequisite for tumors that grow beyond a diameter of about 1-2 mm. Up to this size, oxygen and nutrients may be supplied to the tumor cells by diffusion. Every tumor, regardless of its origin and its cause, is thus dependent on angiogenesis for its growth after it has reached a certain size.
Three principal mechanisms play an important part in the activity of angiogenesis inhibitors against tumors: 1) Inhibition of the growth of vessels, especially capillaries, into vascular resting tumors, with the result that there is no net tumor growth owing to the balance that is achieved between cell death and proliferation; 2) Prevention of the migration of tumor cells owing to the absence of blood flow to and from tumors; and 3) Inhibition of endothelial cell proliferation, thus avoiding the paracrine growth-stimulating effect exerted on the surrounding tissue by the endothelial cells which normally line the vessels. See R. Connell and J. Beebe, Exp. Opin. Ther. Patents, 11:77-114 (2001).
The inhibition of vascular growth in this context has also shown beneficial effects in preclinical animal models. For example, inhibition of angiogenesis by blocking vascular endothelial growth factor or its receptor has resulted in inhibition of tumor growth and in retinopathy. Also, the development of pathological pannus tissue in rheumatoid arthritis involves angiogenesis and might be blocked by inhibitors of angiogenesis.
The ability to stimulate vascular growth has potential utility for treatment of ischemia-induced pathologies such as myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, and stroke. The sprouting of new vessels and/or the expansion of small vessels in ischemic tissues prevents ischemic tissue death and induces tissue repair. Regulating angiogenesis by inhibiting certain recognized pathways in this process would therefore, be useful in treating diseases, such as ocular neovascularization, including retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, psoriasis, hemangioblastoma, hemangioma, arteriosclerosis, inflammatory disease rheumatoid arthritis, chronic inflammatory disorders such as chronic asthma, arterial or post-transplantational atherosclerosis, endometriosis, and neoplastic diseases such as leukemias, otherwise known to be associated with deregulated angiogenesis. Treatment of malaria and related viral diseases may also be mediated by HGF and cMet.
Other receptor tyrosine kinases such as FGFR-1, PDGFR, FLK-1 (Fetal Liver Kinase-1) and c-Met have also been suggested to play a role in angiogenesis. C-met is a unique receptor tyrosine kinase, which comprises, in its native form, a 190 kDa heterodimeric (a disulfide-linked 50 kDa α-chain and a 145 kDa β-chain) membrane-spanning tyrosine kinase protein (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 84:6379-6383 (1987)). C-Met is mainly expressed in epithelial cells and stimulation of c-Met leads to scattering, angiogenesis, proliferation and metastasis. (See Cytokine and Growth Factor Reviews, 13:41-59 (2002)). The ligand for c-Met is hepatocyte growth factor (also known as scatter factor, HGF and SF). HGF is a heterodimeric protein secreted by cells of mesodermal origin (Nature, 327:239-242 (1987); J. Cell Biol., 111:2097-2108 (1990)).
Various biological activities have been described for HGF through interaction with c-met (Hepatocyte Growth Factor-Scatter Factor (HGF-SF) and the c-Met Receptor, Goldberg and Rosen, eds., Birkhauser Verlag-Basel, 67-79 (1993). The biological effect of HGF/SF may depend in part on the target cell. HGF induces a spectrum of biological activities in epithelial cells, including mitogenesis, stimulation of cell motility and promotion of matrix invasion (Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 122:1450-1459 (1984); Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 88:415-419 (1991)). It stimulates the motility and invasiveness of carcinoma cells, the former having been implicated in the migration of cells required for metastasis. HGF can also act as a “scatter factor”, an activity that promotes the dissociation of epithelial and vascular endothelial cells (Nature, 327:239-242 (1987); J. Cell Biol., 111:2097-2108 (1990); EMBO J., 10:2867-2878 (1991); Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 90:649-653 (1993)). Therefore, HGF is thought to be important in tumor invasion (Hepatocyte Growth Factor-Scatter Factor (HGF-SF) and the C-Met Receptor, Goldberg and Rosen, eds., Birkhauser Verlag-Basel, 131-165 (1993)).
HGF and c-Met are expressed at abnormally high levels in a large variety of solid tumors. High levels of HGF and/or c-Met have been observed in liver, breast, pancreas, lung, kidney, bladder, ovary, brain, prostate, gallbladder and myeloma tumors in addition to many others. The role of HGF/c-Met in metastasis has been investigated in mice using cell lines transformed with HGF/c-Met (J. Mol. Med., 74:505-513 (1996)). Over-expression of the c-Met oncogene has also been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis and progression of thyroid tumors derived from follicular epithelium (Oncogene, 7:2549-2553 (1992)). HGF is a morphogen (Development, 110:1271-1284 (1990); Cell, 66:697-711 (1991)) and a potent angiogenic factor (J. Cell Biol., 119:629-641 (1992)).
Recent work on the relationship between inhibition of angiogenesis and the suppression or reversion of tumor progression shows great promise in the treatment of cancer (Nature, 390:404-407 (1997)), especially the use of multiple angiogenesis inhibitors compared to the effect of a single inhibitor. Angiogenesis can be stimulated by HGF, as well as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF).
Elevated levels of HGF and c-Met have also been observed in non-oncological settings, such as hypertension, myocardial infarction and rheumatoid arthritis. It has been observed that levels of HGF increase in the plasma of patients with hepatic failure (Gohda et al., supra) and in the plasma (Hepatol., 13:734-750 (1991)) or serum (J. Biochem., 109:8-13 (1991)) of animals with experimentally induced liver damage. HGF has also been shown to be a mitogen for certain cell types, including melanocytes, renal tubular cells, keratinocytes, certain endothelial cells and cells of epithelial origin (Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 176:45-51 (1991); Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 174:831-838 (1991); Biochem., 30:9768-9780 (1991); Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 88:415-419 (1991)). Both HGF and the c-Met protooncogene have been postulated to play a role in microglial reactions to CNS injuries (Oncogene, 8:219-222 (1993)).
In view of the role of HGF and/or c-Met in potentiating or promoting such diseases or pathological conditions, it would be useful to have a means of substantially reducing or inhibiting one or more of the biological effects of HGF and its receptor. Thus, a compound that reduces the effect of HGF would be a useful compound.
Non-receptor tyrosine kinases represent a collection of cellular enzymes, which lack extracellular activity and transmembrane sequences. Examples of non-receptor tyrosine kinases identified include over twenty-four individual kinases, comprising eleven (11) subfamilies (Src, Frk, Btk, Csk, Abl, Zap70, Fes/Fps, Fak, jak, Ack, and LIMK). Src is thought to be the largest family including Src, TES, FYN, Lyn, Lck, blk, Fgr, and Yrk. The Src subfamily has been linked to oncogenesis and immune responses. See Bohlen, Oncogene, 8:2025-2031 (1993), which disclosure is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. These kinases have also been found to be involved in cellular signaling pathways in numerous pathogenic conditions, including cancer, psoriasis, and other hyper-proliferative disorders or hyper-immune responses. Thus, it would be useful to inhibit the activity of non-receptor kinases as well.
Many classes of compounds have been proposed to generally or specifically inhibit kinase activity. For example, the Kirin publication WO 03/000660 describes substituted phenyl compounds, U.S. Pat. No. 6,143,764 describes substituted quinolines, WO 02/32872 describes substituted quinolines, and WO 00/47212 describes substituted quinazoline derivatives. However, there is always a need to improve the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile of kinase inhibitor compounds for improved physiological efficacy and enhanced treatment of kinase-related pathological conditions and/or disease states. Further, there is a need to treat disease states associated with angiogenesis such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and other conditions where active angiogenesis is undesirable.